People can either take or leave jazz. There are those that are absolutely passionate about it; those that are snobs over it; those that are entirely dismissive of a lot of what is out there today and there are those that are in constant search of the new and unknown. The artist that went so far out that few understood what he was getting at until he was gone.

The late jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock left a such a mark on the jazz world, much like a comet slamming into magma. A scorchingly brilliant artist, the jazz world has yet, over 15 years after his death, to replace him.

Born Warren Harding “Sonny” Sharrock on August 27, 1940, Sonny began his career playing guitar to doo wop groups in his teenage years. He collaborated with Pharoah Sanders and Alexander Solla in the late 60s, appearing first on Sanders’ 1966 album, Tauhid. He also appeared on flutist Herbie Mann’s albums and also made an uncredited guest appearance on the Miles Davis album, A Tribute to Jack Johnson, which is considered by some to be his most famous cameo appearance. He had a strong desire from his youth to play tenor saxophone after hearing John Coltrane play on Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, but his asthma prevented him from doing so. Sharrock was often quoted as saying that he considered himself “a horn player with a really fucked up axe.”

Sharrock released three albums in the late 60s through the mid 70s: Black Woman; Monkey-Pockie-Boo; and an album on which his wife, Linda, also appeared, Paradise.

After the release of Paradise, Sharrock retired for much of the 70s, divorcing his wife Linda in 1978. He worked as a caretaker for mentally challenged children and a chauffeur during that time. Finally, at the urging of producer/bassist Bill Laswell, he was cajoled out of retirement and appeared on one of Laswell’s projects, Memory Serves with the group Material in 1981. Sharrock was also a member of the punk/jazz band Last Exit, along with Laswell, Peter Brotzmann and Ronald Jackson. He also performed and recorded extensively in the late 80s with the New York-based improvisational group Machine Gun, in addition to leading his own band. Sharrock seemed to enjoy this period of his life, noting in a 1991 interview that “the last five years have been pretty strange for me, because I went twelve years without making a record at all, and then in the last five years, I’ve made seven records in my own name. That’s pretty strange.”

Laswell often performed and produced many of Sharrock’s recordings, including the entirely solo Guitar, the metal-influenced Seize the Rainbow, and Ask the Ages, which features Coltrane’s bandmates Pharoah Sanders on sax and Elvin Jones on drums. One reviewer described Ask the Ages as “hands down, Sharrock’s finest hour, and the ideal album to play for those who claim to hate jazz guitar.”

Rolling Stone magazine reviewer Robert Palmer wrote the following about Sharrock’s album, Ask the Ages:

“If you think you’ve heard everything an electric guitar can do, but the name Sonny Sharrock doesn’t ring any bells, it’s time for you to think again."

"Sharrock wasn’t just 'ahead of his time.' Like a freight train roaring through a darkened station not just hours but weeks ahead of schedule, Sharrock was here and gone before anybody even knew he was coming. "

“The bursts of wall-rattling shiver and clang have been augmented by an equally intense concentration on the purest, most liquid guitar tone and by a simple, stirring lyricism.”

Another reviewer stated the following:

“Pharoah (Sanders) howls and shrieks in all the right ways to compliment Sonny on his exploration of the stratosphere; there are moments when the intensity is at such a fevered pitch that you absolutely think one of them is on the verge of blowing an o-ring.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. I have listened to this album at least twice daily over the past several days and each time I hear it, there is something more to discover. There are NO videos on Youtube that do this artist justice. So many of his albums are getting harder and harder to find. However, if you can locate a copy, this album will transport you to another time and space. All you have to do is open up your mind and fasten your seatbelts.

Sharrock died at the age of 53 in 1994 of an unexpected heart attack in his hometown of Ossining, New York, shortly before he was to sign the first major label deal of his career. He is also well known for the soundtrack to the Cartoon Network program "Space Ghost: Coast to Coast" with his drummer Lance Carter, which was one of his last projects.

So if you haven’t yet wrapped your brain around some truly magnificent guitar playing recently, give a listen to Sonny Sharrock. I doubt you will be disappointed.

Chronological Recordings of Sonny Sharrock

The Echoes: "Teenage Lover's Lullabye"

        (unreleased), 13 Dec 1957

Pharoah Sanders: Tauhid

        Impulse! A(S)-9138, 15 Nov 1966

Rick Colbeck

        (unissued session for Pixie Records), 23 Nov 1966

Marzette Watts: Marzette Watts

        ESP 1044, 8 Dec 1966

Byard Lancaster: It's Not Up To Us

        Vortex 2003, 19 Dec 1966

Herbie Mann: Memphis Underground

        Atlantic SD 1522, 1968

Herbie Mann: Windows Open

        Atlantic SD 1507, 8 Feb & 2 April 1968

Herbie Mann: (Title Unknown)

        Atlantic 2498, 8 Feb. 1968

Herbie Mann: The Evolution of Man

        Rhino (Atlantic) R271634, 8 Feb 1968 & 8 July 1972

Roy Ayers: Stoned Soul Picnic

        Atlantic SD 1514, 1968

Sonny Sharrock: Black Woman

        Vortex 2014, 2/22 Oct 1968 & 8/16 May 1969

Herbie Mann: Concerto Grosso in D Blues

        Atlantic SD 1540, 11/12 Nov 1968

Don Cherry: Eternal Rhythm

        MPS/BASF 20680, 11/12 Nov 1968

Herbie Mann: Stone Flutes

        EmbryoSD 520, 18/19 Nov 1968

Pharoah Sanders: Izipho Zam

        Strata East SES-19733, 14 Jan 1969

Herbie Mann: Live at the Whiskey A-Go-Go

        Atlantic SD 1536, 6 June 1969

Roy Ayers: Daddy Bug

        Atco 1692, 13 Aug1969

Roy Ayers: Daddy Bug and Friends

        Atco 1692, 1969

Wayne Shorter: Super Nova

        Blue Note BST 84332, 29 Aug & 2 Sept 1969

Miles Davis: A Tribute to Jack Johnson

        Columbia PC 30455, 7 April 1970

Sonny Sharrock: Monkey-Pockie-Boo

        BYG Actuel 37, 22 June 1970

Brute Force: Brute Force

        EmbryoSD 522, Summer 1970

Herbie Mann: (Title Unknown)

        EmbryoSD 531, Nov 1970

Steve Marcus Quartet: Green Line

        Storyville 1011, 9 Nov 1970

Byard Lancaster: (Unreleased session for Douglas Records)

        1970

Herbie Mann: (Title Unknown)

        EmbryoSD 533, 19/21 April 1971

Herbie Mann: Hold On, I'm Comin'

        Atlantic SD 1632, 12 June & 8 July 1972

Various (Herbie Mann): Newport in New York '72, The Soul Sessions Volume 6

        Cobblestone CST 9028 26488, 8 July 1972

Sonny & Linda Sharrock: "Another Place" Soundtrack

        (unissued (?) Sadat Prakai (?) film), 31 July 1973

Sonny & Linda Sharrock:        (unissued) 

        WKCR-FM, 21 March 1974

Sonny & Linda Sharrock: Paradise

        AtcoSD 36-121, July (?) 1975

Sonny Sharrock, et al: Improvised Music 1981

        Mu Works MU W 1007, 18 Sept 1981

Material: Memory Serves

        Elektra/Musician E1-60042, 1982

Sonny Sharrock Band: Dance With Me, Montana

        Marge 20, 29/30 March 1982

Last Exit: Last Exit

        Enemy 101, Feb 1986

Last Exit: Koln

        ITM 1446, 12 Feb 1986

Last Exit: The Noise of Trouble

        Enemy 103, Oct 1986

Sonny Sharrock: Guitar

        Enemy  102, 1986

Sonny Sharrock: (unissued on-air solo performance)

        WKCR-FM, 9 Feb 1987

Ginger Baker: No Material

        ITM 1435, March 1987

Last Exit: Cassette Recordings '87

        Enemy/Celluloid 6147, 1987

Sonny Sharrock Band: Seize the Rainbow

        Enemy 104, May 1987

Machine Gun: Machine Gun

        Mu Works MU 1001, 1988

Last Exit: Iron Path

        Venture 38, Virgin 7 91015-2, 1988

Last Exit: Headfirst Into the Flames

        Mu Works MU 1013, 1989

Machine Gun: Open Fire

        MUNY 1003, 1989

Sonny Sharrock Band: Live in New York

        Enemy 108, 14 July 1989

Various Artists: Knitting Factory Goes to the Northwest

        Knitting Factory Works KFW CD-101, 14 July 1989

Pheeroan akLaff: Sonogram

        Mu Works MU W 1004, Aug 1989

Bill Cosby and Friends: Where You Lay Your Head

        Verve 841 930-2, 1990

Sonny Sharrock & Nicky Skopelitas: Faith Moves

        CMP 52, 1990

Sonny Sharrock Band: Highlife

        Enemy 119/EFA 03519, Oct 1990

Various Artists: Live at the Knitting Factory, Volume 4

        A&M 75021 5332 2, 3 Feb 1990

Sonny Sharrock: Ask the Ages

        Axiom 422-848-957, 1991

Various Artists: Illuminations: Axiom Collection

        Axiom 422-848-958-2

Various Artists: Live at the Knitting Factory, Volume 2

        Knitting Factory Works KFW KFWCD 98, 1991

Sonny Sharrock & Nicky Skopelitas: (unissued on-air duo performance)

        WNYC-FM, "New Sounds" #711, 9 Sept 1991

Sonny Sharrock: Space Ghost: Coast to Coast

        Cartoon Network SGCTC1CD, 19 Nov 1993

Various Artists: Axiom Ambient: Lost in the Translation

        Axiom 314-524-053-2, 1991 (Mixed July 1994)

Discography courtesy of Charles Blass. 

What I will remember most about Sonny Sharrock - even before the

music -

will be the laughter...the sense of humor

The fun

We laughed a lot

We laughed at the conditions that we had to tolerate

to continue doing creative music

We laughed at the reaction - the response to that music -

from the journalists, the audience, even the musicians -

the same sad, phony, lost motherfuckers who will show up now to say

How great he was

How overlooked and underrated he was

How he could have done so much more...

We laughed a lot

But this part is serious

Serious as a heart attack

Peace Sonny

You gave a lot...more than they'll ever know

----Bill Laswell, May 30, 1994

Sonny! We saw the beauty before you left. Such a beautiful solo, heart open for all to touch, soul dancing on strings, the fine tuning of the smile, nothing left in the past but the future! You were fun...Sonny, so much fun You laugh...I cry! You laugh....I cry for your presence in this moment of depression! Sonny, I love the music too...I want to be human too...a poem for the musician in Death! And Life must go on, not to miss you Sonny...not to glorify you, not to deify....you must listen to the understanding of your real friends, know how much there was left to give, a quick smile and then serious again, always the music... Peace, Sonny! ---- Umar Bin Hassan, Last Poets, May 28, 1994